


The Voyages of James Cook

by StormflyToothlessHiccstrid (RandomShapeshiftingDragon)



Category: None - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:54:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23911129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomShapeshiftingDragon/pseuds/StormflyToothlessHiccstrid
Summary: IAS





	The Voyages of James Cook

The first European contact with Australia began in 1606, but it was not until 1770 that Captain James Cook of England claimed the continent for the British Crown. The first British colony in Australia was established at Botany Bay, near present-day Sydney.  
Causes of James Cook’s Voyages  
Economic  
Settling Australia provided many economic opportunities to the British Empire. Australia provided a trading post in the Pacific, and an opportunity for the British Empire to expand (grow).  
Science  
Over the years, Cook added astronomy to his various skills and submitted the results of his observation of a solar eclipse on the south coast of Newfoundland to the Royal Society of London. The Royal Society had petitioned the British government and the Admiralty to send astronomers on a ship to observe the Transit of Venus in 1769  
Overcrowding  
In 1777 a report was issued recommending new, improved, and more prisons. People were complaining about the lack of space in prisons. Things were so bad prisoners were often held in the hull of ships at the docks, which also quickly became overcrowded, which often lead to riots and complaints by people who lived near by. The government established a penal colony in New South Wales in response to this crisis.  
Effects on Australia  
Linguistically, English has become the dominant language of the continent, and Christianity is the dominant religion in Australia. Most Australian’s are of mainly British or Dutch ancestry, however, Australia is considered a culturally diverse country.  
Most Australians live in the coastal areas of the continent, particularly in the southwest, east, and southeast. Around 80% of all Australians live in urban areas. 

Effects on Aboriginal Culture  
The Aboriginal way of life in modern Australia is markedly different from what it was prior to European contact. Once the dominant people of Australia, the Aborigines today account for less than 3% of the total population.  
Politically, although they are protected under Australia’s constitution, Aboriginal peoples were not granted extensive voting rights until 1965, and were not even counted as part of the national census until 1967. In terms of education, Aboriginal school attendance and overall literacy rates, especially in Australia’s more remote areas, remains very poor.  
Health concerns persist among Australia’s aboriginal peoples as well. Aboriginal life expectancy is, on average, ten years lower than for non-Aborigines. Infant mortality rates among Aboriginal women are twice that of non-Aborigines. Cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, are currently the number one cause of death among the Aborigines.  
Diseases Europeans Spread  
The Europeans brought to Australia the same diseases that killed millions of natives in the Caribbean and the Americas. The unintentional transmission of small pox, measles, influenza, tuberculosis, among many other diseases devastated the Aborigines people of Australia. The Aborigines people were overwhelmed by European diseases and died at such high rates resistance to colonization was difficult.  
Effects on Australia’s environment  
Early settlers throughout the 18th and 19th centuries believed that introduced species would 'improve' the 'barren' Australian landscape. The detrimental, and often extreme, effects that these species have had on native plants and animal species, however, are still being managed today.  
Natural Resources  
While the settlers lived on the verge of starvation for several years, by 1800 they had begun to achieve enough success in farming to attain self-sufficiency in food. Their survival, however, came (and would continue to come) at the expense of the land's natural resources. Around 15% of Australia's flora is made up of introduced species. 

Animals  
Despite the Indigenous people of Australia having lived off the land for thousands of years, the early British settlers believed that the Australian environment was too barren to yield an adequate supply of food. Since the only way to transport people and goods from England to Australia in 1788 was by ship, which usually took eight months, the British settlers realized that the new colony would not be able to survive on imported supplies alone. Among the animals were 19 goats, 44 sheep, four cows, six horses, five rabbits, 32 hogs and 87 chickens.  
Other  
There are at least 30 species of pest animals around Australia, and more than 500 weed species. Pest animals and weeds damage agriculture and harm our environment. Controlling them is a common area of concern for farmers and conservationists alike.  
After the loss of its American colonies in the American Revolution, Britain began shipping its prisoners to Australia, especially to New South Wales in the southeast of the continent. Australia remained a prison colony until 1868, but later came to serve a more vital role as a British naval outpost and trading center.


End file.
